I was thinking I might produce a podcast tonight - then I had a nice cup of coffee and decided that this would have been simply daft. Instead, whilst watching the first 20 minutes of the Bombers getting thrashed, I decided that, these days, we need to be more versatile... Like photographers wasting their time complaining about convergence rather than learning how to shoot a bit of video, like film photographers saying that they're not switching to digital... Or am I confusing stubborn with versatile there, anyways, doesn't matter - I'm rambling!
What I think I mean is this... If we're not willing to try different things then we may become stagnant... I was only into photographing live music until a couple of years ago, the music was what I was after, those moments... I didn't want to really try anything else, I mixed in a little bit of boxing, a little bit of corporate portraiture, some of this, some of that..., but nothing "serious" I was happy with music...
Meanwhile, I was firmly in the "I'm never photographing a wedding!" camp - that was tooo much like hardcore pressure! Seriously! One shot at getting someone's photographs right?! no thank you very much....
I penned that I am constantly surrounded by inspiration, and that this is both a good and a bad thing - sometimes.. Well, that inspiration is also responsible for me wanting to try new photographic things. Recently I signed on as a second to Elise Garner to photograph an Ironman event, it was lots of fun and a great learning curve all at the same time...
And, amidst all of this I was pushed to be a second photographer on a wedding or two, too, and I'm really glad Katie persisted! I've had a lot of fun with weddings and I'm off to shoot another in just over a week - I don't do a zillion... Recently I did my little brother and his lovely bride's wedding - special.
A lot of people specialise, me, I've sorta gotta mix it up to keep it interesting. Life is too short to be bored, right?
-- Sime